Share this:

Erwin Neher - Facts

Affiliation at the time of the award:Max-Planck-Institut für Biophysikalische Chemie, Göttingen, Federal Republic of Germany

Prize motivation: "for their discoveries concerning the function of single ion channels in cells"

Field: cell physiology

Prize share: 1/2

Work

One of the fundamental processes of life is the transit of charged atoms - ions - through the surface layer of cells that make up organisms. Among other things, this transit is of crucial importance for the transfer of signals in nerves and muscles so that the body functions. Around 1980 Erwin Neher and Bert Sakmann developed a method for measuring the extremely weak currents involved in ion transits. These results confirmed that the transit occurs through ion channels - molecules on the surface of cells that under certain conditions allow ions to pass through.